The Four Questions
by BirdG
Summary: Scorpius has questions for his mum.


**Author's Notes:** This was written for the yay_potterkids community over at Livejournal, a place dedicated to low-rated fic suitable for children. Scorpius is 8 1/2 here and, since this is a part of the _More Than Our Abilities_ universe, Jewish. Like his mum. Draco is still and always be, the WASPiest WASP to ever WASP.

And as I explain in my profile, JKR spelled it Ast**e**ria on the Weasley Family Tree so that's how I spell it.

* * *

That settled it, he definitely wouldn't go to Hogwarts. Not that Scorpius had had any real interest in going before. Oh no. Moving again? Having to make new friends all over again? No, he wasn't going to do it. He had only listened to Elodie because his cousin was a first year at Hogwarts and he was curious about it. She didn't have to borrow her parent's wands to attempt a spell while they watched; she had her own wand and was learning spells on her own. Scorpius couldn't help but envy Elodie that, even if it made her already big head even bigger.

But whatever curiosity he'd once had about Hogwarts had been erased when Elodie told them what that annoying fellow-Ravenclaw had said. Stalking back towards his grandparents house, Scorpius decided he would mention it to Grandmère Hélène and get her on his side. She already didn't want him to go to Hogwarts so it should be easy enough to do. Though she, like Grandfather Lucius, had her own ideas about Scorpius' schooling. Grandmère Hélène wanted him to go to Beauxbatons like she had and Grandfather Lucius wanted Durmstrang, the school he still felt his own son should have attended.

As for Scorpius? He was going to stay in India and attend whatever school his friends did. He had a few years to change his parents' minds about it and he was determined to do so.

"Something wrong?" His dad was sitting on the deck, wireless radio nearby broadcasting the news in French. "You and Mairi didn't have another argument, did you?"

"No." While visiting their grandparents in Valais, he and his cousin Mairi had to share a room. Mairi was still mad that Scorpius had called the top bunk. "Elodie was telling us about Hogwarts and how this one kid said that all that stuff about Noah and Moses isn't true. They're just ordinary wizards that Muggles made up stories about because they didn't know any better!"

Scorpius knew that look on his dad's face. He'd seen the same look of wide-eyed fear when his ferret, Scout, had run afoul of one of Grandfather's hounds.

"Er..." Draco began, blinking, "I think, perhaps, this is something you should discuss with your mother."

"Yeah, all right." Mum did know more when it came to this sort of thing.

Trudging inside, he passed his Grandmère and Auntie Daphne as they fussed over the brisket for tonight's Seder. He found his mum in the dining room, setting the table for dinner. Stopping, he leaned against the back of the chair and watched her work.

"Sickle for your thoughts," she asked, glancing over at him with a grin.

"Elodie was telling us about Hogwarts" he said, launching into the tale about how the argument had started and how Elodie and her friend Isma'il had tried to point out that it doesn't work that way - that it couldn't have been wizards who did all that. "So is it all just stories that Muggles made up to explain away things they didn't understand?"

His mum was quiet for a moment, then came around the table, sitting next to him and motioning for Scorpius to do the same. "What do you think?"

"I think they're real."

"Then they're real."

Scorpius sighed, tilting his head and fixing his mum with a dubious look. "And what if I decide they're not real and that they _are_ just stories made up by Muggles?"

"Then that's the truth."

"That doesn't make any sense!" he cried exasperatedly. "How can something change just because you believe in it or not?"

"I know it's confusing," she said, taking his hands in hers. "Listen, your cousins and uncles, like your dad and his parents are Christian. You and I and my, like my sisters and _my_ parents, are Jewish. Does that mean half us are wrong?"

"No," he answered automatically, he didn't want to be wrong but he didn't want his dad to be wrong either. "But..."

Scorpius couldn't even verbalize all the questions this brought to mind.

Luckily, his mum understood. "But how can we both be right? No one knows for certain what the truth is: if Moses did those things with divine help or if he was a wizard who just thought he was acting on behalf of a higher power. And until they create a Time-Turner that can go that far back, no one will know. All we can do is be the best person we can be, no matter our beliefs."

"Do you really think it doesn't matter what we believe?"

"I think it matters that you're kind and and treat others fairly and with dignity. All religions say the same thing when it comes to that. And those that don't believe in a higher power still believe in honesty and charity and compassion." Asteria gave a small shrug. "So no matter the truth is, you can't go wrong if you're a good person."

Brushing his hair back from his face, she gave her son a small smile. "Does that help?"

Scorpius nodded. He liked his mum's explanation, it felt right to him.

"Nervous about tonight? This will be your first time flying solo when it comes to The Four Questions."

"Not really," he said, fidgeting in his seat slightly. Usually his cousins helped him but Mairi, like Fiona and Elodie before her, had decided she was too old so the tradition fell to him. Scorpius didn't mind, he liked the responsibility and he always loved hearing Grandpapa Linus' answers. Each time, it seemed, he would find a new and different way to tell the story of the Exodus.

"Do you want to practice them anyway, just in case?"

"Okay." It couldn't hurt to make sure he did it in the right order. "Why is this night different from all other nights?"


End file.
